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Promise of Little Venice washed away

Death in Sydney tourists won't be flocking to the Alexandra
Canal in Sydney's south.Photo: Kate Geraghty

IT WAS once billed as the Venice of Sydney. Eight years on, one
of the most contaminated waterways in the southern hemisphere
remains so toxic that government documents warn not to touch
it.

Internal documents obtained by the State Opposition under
freedom-of-information laws reveal the dilapidated Alexandra Canal,
near Sydney Airport, still poses a significant health risk to
humans and the environment.

One briefing note from the Environment Protection Authority
(EPA) describes the canal, which runs from Alexandria to meet the
Cooks River west of the international terminal, as "the most
severely contaminated canal in the southern hemisphere".

Another warns: "The sediments are toxic. The do-not-disturb
action is justified and any dredging will increase the risk because
the deeper sediments are generally more contaminated than the upper
layers of sediment."

The Alexandra Canal, a four-kilometre man-made waterway that was
once used for disposing of industrial waste, has had a "do not
disturb" direction on it for at least 10 years, and has had a
complete fishing ban since 2000 because of the contamination.

Many reports were written around the time that the former
minister for urban affairs, Andrew Refshauge, released an ambitious
master plan for the canal, promising to "treat the pollution and
develop the canalside with footpaths and bike tracks".

The City of Sydney Council's 2030 plan proposes parklands and
residential and commercial development along the margins, making it
"a beautiful place to walk, cycle and live".

But Mr Refshauge's dreams have not materialised and the
Department of Environment and Climate Change maintains that
rehabilitation could do more harm than good because the most toxic
sediments are likely to be on the bottom of the canal.

A department spokesman, John Dengate, said the canal was "not an
unusual industrial legacy" of the Western world. "Often the worst
thing you can do to it is stir it up," he said, adding that it
would be "hugely expensive" to remediate.

The Liberal MP for Castle Hill, Michael Richardson, said he did
not accept the State Government's line that "technologies do not
exist to remediate the bed sediments without increasing the risk of
harm".

"While ever the canal remains as it is, it poses a threat to
nearby residents, and fish and other marine organisms in the Cooks
River and Botany Bay," he said.

"Surely it's possible to isolate the canal and clean up the
sediments without dispersing them into the Cooks River. We are
facing exactly the same sort of environmental disaster in Botany
Bay if the Government doesn't do something about the Alexandra
Canal."

Mr Richardson said his office had obtained an email from the EPA
that stated the canal had "the highest metal concentrations
recorded in any estuary in the Sydney region". "This is exactly the
approach the Government took over Homebush Bay, and as a result
dioxin-contaminated sediments migrated into the Parramatta River,"
he said.

Late last year, the head of Sydney Water, Kerrie Schott,
admitted that the cost of the planned desalination pipeline, which
will run under sections of the canal, had blown out to $650 million
because of the contamination.

"The pipeline is going through some of the most contaminated parts
of Sydney - Tempe and the Alexandra Canal," she said in December.
"We did allow for contamination; we didn't allow for enough of
it."

Dirty water under the bridge

"A new vision for the canal and surrounding areas and a blueprint
to transform it into a major recreational and ecological asset;
part of a green, regional spine linking the Cooks River with Sydney
and Moore parks."

A cycle and pedestrian path would "draw people to the edge of
the canal, providing opportunities for picnics, quiet reflection or
walking and cycling".

The 2001 "master plan" drawn up by the State Government and
South Sydney Council to transform the 3.9-kilometre tidal waterway
into a Little Venice.